Saturday, February 20, 2010

I went on a garden tour on the beautiful Hamakua Coastline in the northern part of the Big Island and sponsored by the Hawaii Concert Society , including a meet and greet with the amazing Trio con Brio Copenhagen. What more can you ask for in a gathering, beautiful music, gorgeous gardens and amazing Hawaiian vistas.

Before we start our tour, go ahead and click on the play button on the you tube link below, we are having special guests perform from the Trio Con Brio while we tour the gardens… Its already

the twilight timeframe, the perfect time for our garden tour.

We started our tour with our hostess who is a vireya gardener and her gardens were filled with blooms that afternoon, the vireya walkways are large borders with varying levels of mature vireyas and all seem to be blooming on command.

Our hostess has this large raised bed of saucer sized hibiscus that were truly amazing and the color combinations were just so unreal, take a look….

On the way to visit her fruit orchard, I spot this tree I’ve never seen before and it was filled with these amazing yellow flowers that looked like peonies, take a look…

The tree is called a double Buttercup tree or Cochlospermum vitifolium. Here’s a sample of one of the flowers, aren’t they striking!

The parcel fronts the ocean and I stopped to view the coastlines and take a few pictures of how beautifully lit up the skies were against the coconut trees.

One of the coconut trees we passed had this amazing string of bromeliads climbing up to the base of the tree.

At their fruit orchids there were the usual lemons, limes, oranges, mangoes and pineapples, but this Musa Ae Ae, really stood out, the variegated bananas are almost ready to be picked.

We are now going to the other side of the garden to view here prized lillies, more vireyas and a waterfall the cascading out to the open ocean.

Pearl earrings of ginger called zerumbet, shell ginger

A white powderpuff called calliandra

A variegated crown of thorns or Euphorbia splendens

This ones a real dazzler called Brownea Capitella, a beautiful shorter tree species

Our guests of honor were the Trio con Brio from Copenhagen, they did a spectacular concert the following night with their amazing performance. Did you enjoy the sample piece they played above on the link?

The sun is starting to set soon, time to take the party indoors and enjoy some food and conversation with members of the concert society. Thanks for taking this tour with us this afternoon.

20 comments:

These are all beautiful, Noel. Almost a little overwhelming for just one post--there are so many photos that we can't decide which is nicest. I feel more tropical just basking in the beauty. Pity the weather is still snowy, though. :-)

What fabulous photos! I especially love the variegated bananas--never seen those before! Must say, if you're a plant fanatic, you're certainly in the right place! Your skies over the water are pretty spectacular too.

Hi Noel, I enjoyed my tour very much and the music by Trio con Brio was a welcomed accompaniment to the tour. That buttercup tree has to be my favorite. It is so beautiful. Someday I hope to visit the big island. I've heard so much about it. I once read a book that talked of the black volcanic sand of Hawaii. Do you have a post on it by change? I'd love to see it.

I never thought of Hawaii as being in a drought. Your water catchment system is pretty unique. I hope you get lots of rain and the weather patterns get back to normal and bring you more liquid gold. We've had a drought here for a few years and I know how much rain means to us all now so I truly hope it comes your way!

Oh, how I love bromeliads climbing up a tree!!! Your photos of the shell ginger are awesome! I have grown the variegated form for years, and for some reason, I've never been inclined to photograph them. But there will be plenty of shots next time they bloom! Your crinum photo reminds me of the 'Ellen Bosanquet' that grows in my garden and all over Central Florida.

Gorgeous post, Noel. It sounds like you had an amazing day, soaking in the visual and auditory beauty. The ginger's pearl earrings, the bromeliads climbing up the tree trunk, and the first hibiscus pictured were all highlights for me. But if I lived in Hawaii, I'd have to have a yellow-flowered vireya. How perfect those blooms!

Of course I absolutely love the bromeliads, and its nice to see photos of those plants I'm notused to seeing good photos of. I'm a big fan of those shell gingers with or without blooms, but they sure are wonderful in flower.

Oh you had a lot for us in that post. I don't know the vireya and my background music is from the figure skating via satelite Olympic. I seem to equate those lovely sexy costumes with flowers and butteflies. The most stunning for me from your post however, is the variegated banana. Do you think it is bred in Hawaii? You might have some details of this variety, thank you.

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Aloha

Living in East Hawaii on the Big Island, I am amazed by the multitude of new plant genera that I've started to discover and become addicted to. Come and explore with me in finding new amazing plants, discover the variegated and colorful, rare specimens, developing my garden, garden design, learning about sustainability and just doing the naughty things that a plant fanatic typically won't do in public :)

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Writer, photographer, artist, food fanatic and wanderer,I love to visit and discover new places, exotic food and interesting people along my travels. Being able to explore new environments, cultures and trying something new is something I am passionate about, and sharing my photography and writing is a big part of the joy and creative process.
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